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Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I come to the floor this morning sick to my stomach and profoundly disturbed by pictures that were shared with me this morning of yet another anti- Semitic act in New York.

A few hours ago, the director of the Brooklyn Museum and several members of the board of directors had their homes vandalized with revolting anti-Semitic images, with images of fake blood, symbolism used by Hamas. I have a picture of some of the vandalism right here outside the home of one of the directors.

This is not New York. This is not America. And we must confront this bigotry and vicious intolerance with courage, with perseverance.

Every single American needs to see this. This is the home of a woman on the board of directors. It has her name. It says ``Brooklyn Museum,'' and then it says ``White Supremacist Zionist.'' And her home is smeared with blood.

Every single American needs to see these pictures. This is the face of hatred--Jewish Americans made to feel unsafe in their own home just because they are Jewish.

This is not even close to free speech. It is intimidation. It is scapegoating. It is dehumanization--invasive attacks loaded with the threat of looming violence. It is vile. It is nasty. It is un-American.

And, sadly, this kind of evil is something every Jew on Earth can recognize in an instant. Images like this remind us of evils our families endured for generations, evils that paved the way for unimaginable violence.

I cannot believe we are seeing this here in America, here in New York. Targeting someone for simply being Jewish, smearing their front door with fake blood, and calling them White supremacist is beyond the pale. Vandalism like this is a crime and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

And it sickens me that, of all the targets these anti-Semites could have chosen, it was the leadership of the Brooklyn Museum. The Brooklyn Museum is deeply concerned with issues of social justice--I would say, more than most museums. Its doors are always open to all.

I have visited the Brooklyn Museum many times with my children and my grandchildren. I have spoken at their great ``First Saturday'' events. I have even voted there.

The best antidote for the poison of ignorance is, of course, knowledge, and that is precisely what we find in our museums-- knowledge.

These images break my heart. They fill me with both deep grief and profound anger. I condemn the actions of those who smeared these hateful images of the leadership of the Brooklyn Museum. The perpetrators must be held accountable for this hateful vandalism. These hateful actions--make no mistake about it--do nothing, nothing at all, to advance the cause these individuals profess to care about.

Again, this is not New York. This is not America. And we must confront this intolerance and bigotry with courage, with perseverance, and with common cause with all those who wish to promote tolerance and acceptance here in America.

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